Indiana Basketball History Magazine – Summer 2017
As many people my age can attest there comes a time for downsizing. In the process it often happens that long forgotten treasures are rediscovered. Such was the case recently when my friends Tom and Gretchen Hall came across a marvelous booklet entitled “A history of Shortridge High School Basketball” from the very beginning until 1944. Tom had played quarterback as a Frankfort Hot Dog and again at Purdue where he had the misfortune to be on the same team as one Len Dawson. Tom’s father, however, was a Shortridge graduate who had been a starting guard on the 1918 team before going off to the war. He was the source of the booklet that was published by the Daily Echo, the nation’s very first high school daily newspaper, and written by student sports editor Nick Ricos. Knowing of my interest in the history of Indiana High School basketball and of my book on the topic “Hoosiers All” (available from the Hall of Fame gift store) The Halls gave the booklet to me and it is the preponderant source of the Shortridge material included in this article.
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